It's Time to Go Surfing - May 31, 2010

The trip is now less than two weeks away. Through a chain of friends and new acquaintances, I've made contact with one person in Turkey and am waiting to see if that leads anywhere. Meanwhile, last week, I got an e-mail from a high school classmate I hadn't heard from in 20+ years. It turns out that she has Turkish friends in the United States that are interested in putting me in touch with some of their relatives in Turkey. Again, I'm waiting to see if that leads anywhere.

I'm optimistic, but lately I've been thinking about pursuing an additional option - CouchSurfing. CouchSurfing is a non-profit organization whose stated vision is "a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter."

Members of CouchSurfing, who reside in more than 230 countries, are given the option to host visitors from around the world, and in turn, members may ask other members if they would be willing to let them be guests in their homes while they are traveling. Hosts are not allowed to charge guests for accommodations, which can range from a spare couch to a spare bedroom.

The online network takes numerous steps to heighten safety, such as verifying member addresses and member identities and allowing guests to post feedback on their hosts and hosts to also give feedback on their guests.

I've been a member of CouchSurfing and a similar organization, Hospitality Club, for awhile, but originally I didn't want to utilize either organization in this Turkish endeavor because I wasn't sure if CouchSurfing fit in with my original intention of just throwing my idea into the universe and letting it spread through word of mouth and through those who came across my blog.

CouchSurfing is a wonderful example of benevolence and would seemingly be a great way to forge truly personal ties with Turkish people, but it will require me to go outside my own site to another site to ask members if they would be willing to host me during my trip to Turkey. In the process, I might then attract new readers to my blog, who didn't discover it on their own or through word of mouth.

I had been mulling over this philosophical question when, last week, someone anonymously posted the comment on my blog that I consider trying CouchSurfing, so I came to the conclusion that the universe had, indeed, given me a gift and that I needed to accept it and give CouchSurfing a shot.

This weekend, I also began thinking about the old tale of the man caught in a flood.

As the story goes, flood waters rose higher and higher around the man's house, threatening to engulf the structure and drown the man. A neighbor on dry land tried to throw the man a rope, but the man refused help saying, "I'm waiting for God to save me."

Next, someone in a boat passed by and offered to ferry the man to safety, but, again, the man declined saying, "I'm waiting for God to save me."

By this point, the house was almost completely underwater, so the man climbed onto the roof. A helicopter spotted the man, and the crew lowered a rescue ladder, but the man wouldn't grab on because he still said he was waiting for God to save him.

The man drowned and met God face to face in heaven. Immediately, the man asked, "Why didn't you save me?"

God replied, "I tried. I sent you a rope, a boat, and a helicopter. What more did you want?"

Some readers might disagree with my logic, but I feel like the universe has thrown me a rope in the form of the suggestion that was sent to my blog last week, so I'm grabbing it. I don't want to turn my back on a potential source of benevolence just because it isn't in the exact form that I was expecting and doesn't comply exactly with my originally stated vision.

With that in mind, tomorrow night, I plan to contact some of the Turkish members of CouchSurfing and post a short message explaining what I'm doing with my trip.

Although I'm registered with both CouchSurfing and Hospitality Club, I've never had the opportunity to either host someone or to be a guest in someone's home. Perhaps, this summer we'll all find out what that experience is like, as I continue my quest to determine if a teacher can travel for a month in Turkey relying on nothing but benevolence.



Note: I have a tremendous amount of respect for the work of artists. All images on my blog are either from my own personal photographs or are free images downloaded from the public domain.